2023 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

I think Xander has a bit more of a point than he did before. It was one thing when Rose was just looking up stuff online, but now she's actually spending time with Samuel and she's not only keeping it from their mother but expecting Xander to as well.And I didn't think her flying off the handle at Mali for, as he said, telling Samuel stuff that's public knowledge was particularly necessary either.I do give her credit for not hiding anything to anyone's face, telling Samuel who Xander was and also telling Alf who Samuel is, which he seemed to want to keep quiet.At least she was willing to talk to him the next morning, although that's a bit of a mixed message!

So, Team Cash and Team Madden seem to be left in an awkward holding pattern where neither can tell anyone what they know about the other. It's not exactly a twist that the dodgy guy is dodgy, but Cash and Harper's speculation about Madden suggests this is about more than a Dylan Carter-style piece of career building. Is Madden a Mr Big, or at least in the employ of a Mr Big?

John was pushing his luck getting Mackenzie to shout him a free meal but at least he did eventually get a good idea out of it.

[H&Alover]

To be fair to Rose Samuel was taking liberties just rocking up without warning so no wonder she was flummoxed. She wanted to take it in her own time. Xander though is in the middle of the whole mum and Rose thing what with Rose ignoring their mum's calls leaving him to make excuses.  He would have been hurt too that Samuel didn't know who he was, I don't think Rose deliberately didn't tell Samuel about him, he did rather take over their talk. We did see  this time,  in the flashback, the year Rose was born - 1998.   Knowing Mali's feelings about family and his mistake about keeping secrets he made a valid point. As I said before Samuel seems more invested in getting to know Rose than she is but he was a bit nonplussed when she introduced Samuel as her biological dad. 

Mac offered Xander a place to stay if it got too much which it looked like he was considering.   It would be good to see Xander and Mac together but she as is his boss it could cause problems work wise. 

It appears then Olly and Madden are in co-hoots as I thought,  Olly passing on the CCTV info that Dana gave him onto Madden.  Funny how Olly never returns any of her calls or told Madden where he got the info from, but if he did he would know whose mobile it had come from.  Cash has to play it clever so Madden doesn't get any clues they've worked it out. Are there any  other cops are involved or is it just Madden or do Madden's colleagues  know what is going on and playing a waiting to catch him in the act? 

Good to see the barn storming with Mac & John as to what the team bonding could involve.  Then Xander did his Tom Cruise act which gave John his idea.  You can be any age to do that and brought back memories of Ryder. 

Alf still has no idea of why  City Hospital won't let Roo back home to ND hospital. 

 

[Red Ranger 1]

Alf's episode count this week:Three. A quiet week with Leah, Marilyn, Justin and Cash the only other characters to make three.

Confirmation that Xander took Mackenzie up on her offer, which I kind of assumed when he wasn't at home the following morning. I did think that him walking away every time Rose looked like coming near him was a bit childish, although she probably should have got the hint a lot earlier. But yeah, Rose has handled this very badly, hurt Samuel, put Xander in a difficult position and apparently still has no idea whether or not to tell her mother about all this.

Marilyn works a typically short shift at the Diner, only being there for a minute before Leah tells the extra they're both leaving, although she did go back later.Alf takes time off from his usual hobby of bullying John (even John complimenting him on being a father only seemed to gain him a few seconds of being treated like a person) to try and arrange a day out for Roo which...then turns out to be needless anyway? It feels like an age since we last saw Roo so Marilyn's dithering doesn't really have much an impact bar a reminder that Marilyn's annoying.

I did wonder when Alf found out about Samuel just discovering he had a daughter if he thought "Oh yeah, I've had a couple of those."

[CaptainHulk]

^ Joke is Quinn did cross my mind in that scene.

[Foellfan]

Probably an unpopular opinion but I think Rose's mum has a huge part in this mess as she didn't really have the right to keep the info from Rose once she turned 18, it was no longer her choice to make. It's Rose's heritage and whether her mum was embarrassed by her indiscretion isn't really Rose's problem.

I can understand Rose feeling conflicted by it all, it's not an easy thing to unearth then unpick and also it's pretty overwhelming and I think Xander was being petulant at Salt he's supposed to be a grown man and should've at least tried to support his sister.

[CaptainHulk]

55 minutes ago, Foellfan said:

Probably an unpopular opinion but I think Rose's mum has a huge part in this mess as she didn't really have the right to keep the info from Rose once she turned 18, it was no longer her choice to make. It's Rose's heritage and whether her mum was embarrassed by her indiscretion isn't really Rose's problem.

I can understand Rose feeling conflicted by it all, it's not an easy thing to unearth then unpick and also it's pretty overwhelming and I think Xander was being petulant at Salt he's supposed to be a grown man and should've at least tried to support his sister.

 

Xander is a  member of the "Characters in search of their own bloomin' storyline" club.

[H&Alover]

You're  the not  only one who feels in part Yvette was to blame in this.  Secrets and cover ups as anyone in soaps should know do come back to bite you on the bum.  OK she didn't have  to reveal all  when Rose was little.    All she had to tell her when asked why she was a  different colour to Xander and who her daddy was  that her and her dad had split up before she was born, he was a black South African but not  a bad man.  That would have satisfied a young Rose instead of being shut down every time she asked.  Eventually kids do stop asking and bury it but it's still there in their mind.  Xander is stuck in the middle of it all so of course he feels awkward around Rose. I did feel sorry for Samuel but he was being a bit rushy in wanting to get to know Rose, wanting her to meet her grandmother, that will be an interesting conversation.   She did  swing from wanting people to know who he was to  not wanting him around anymore. 

Alf not only had a secret daughter but a son (and grandchildren too) though to be fair to him  he didn't know he had them.

To be fair to Marilyn it was Leah who whisked her off to sort out the problem about Roo coming home and arranging this day out for her.  Haven't any  of them, Leah, Marilyn and Irene, spoken to Roo since she's been in hospital?  Anyways she coming back now, but Maz is feeling concerned about how Roo will feel about seeing her.   She knows it wasn't her fault about the bomb but she doesn't know how Roo feels about it. 

Alf was quite harsh to John when he asked how Roo was, he was just showing concern as a father and friend.  Plus  he, knowing Alf the way he does, wanted to be sure he was on board about the team bonding idea he had had. 

 

 

[pembie]

The Harper Dana drugs story is ok I’m not so sure why Madden or Olly would cover up the drugs though unless they are heavy duty ones and needing to frame Dana for it It’s ok but a easy mystery to solve really I think it’s not like the Robbo mystery 

Im interested in Lyric well their endgame though the way they will leave more than their actual story if that makes sense 

I was interested in Rose finding her dad but she found him too quickly there should have been some mystery there 

I think Alf is totally awful to John I think they have destroyed Alf all the humour has gone from the character he doesn’t even say any funny catchphrases anymore 

[H&Alover]

Alf does still have his funny moments though you have to be quick to spot them.  Oh yeh his admitting he'd switched off his hearing aids when John was talking.   I know others pick on John and slap him down occasionally but they mean it as friends and can have a laugh with him.    

Is it so hard to spell Lyrik correctly?

[Slade]

I still see the Lyric/Kirby situation as an unfortunate one but can see all sides.

Dana is an impulsive idiot - All she had to do was nothing and they would have proven her innocence by now but she had to open her big mouth and gloat to her ex about the footage at the restaurant.  There was nothing to stop Cash from trying to retrieve the data from the drive the footage was originally stored on before, presumably it was copied to USB and deleted, before it was handed over to Madden.

I've really gone off Rose.  I've found Xander quite annoying as well but he did have a valid point about the way she's been treating everyone.  She just comes across as selfish and self-centred and I felt sorry for her biological father when she told him she didn't want anything to do with him, despite seeking him out in the first place.

I appreciate Felicity gave Tane an explanation on why she excluded him from her decision to have the face to face meeting with her attacker but it just goes to show she doesn't think much of him, especially given that he went along with her plans to pay her rapist off initally when he was blackmailing her.